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What can this other cause be; one standing above those treated
of; one that leaves nothing causeless, that preserves sequence
and order in the Universe and yet allows ourselves some reality
and leaves room for prediction and augury?
Soul: we must place at the crest of the world of beings, this
other Principle, not merely the Soul of the Universe but,
included in it, the Soul of the individual: this, no mean
Principle, is needed to be the bond of union in the total of
things, not, itself, a thing sprung like things from life-seeds,
but a first-hand Cause, bodiless and therefore supreme over
itself, free, beyond the reach of kosmic Cause: for, brought into
body, it would not be unrestrictedly sovereign; it would hold
rank in a series.
Now the environment into which this independent principle enters,
when it comes to this midpoint, will be largely led by secondary
causes [or, by chance-causes]: there will therefore be a
compromise; the action of the Soul will be in part guided by this
environment while in other matters it will be sovereign, leading
the way where it will. The nobler Soul will have the greater
power; the poorer Soul, the lesser. A soul which defers to the
bodily temperament cannot escape desire and rage and is abject in
poverty, overbearing in wealth, arbitrary in power. The soul of
nobler nature holds good against its surroundings; it is more apt
to change them than to be changed, so that often it improves the
environment and, where it must make concession, at least keeps
its innocence.
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